The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics

As a result, The Data Detective is a big-idea book about statistics and human behavior that is fresh, unexpected, and insightful. In The Data Detective, he uses new research in science and psychology to set out ten strategies for using statistics to erase our biases and replace them with new ideas that use virtues like patience, curiosity, and good sense to better understand ourselves and the world. We shouldn’t be suspicious of statistics-we need to understand what they mean and how they can improve our lives: they are, at heart, human behavior seen through the prism of numbers and are often “the only way of grasping much of what is going on around us.” If we can toss aside our fears and learn to approach them clearly-understanding how our own preconceptions lead us astray-statistics can point to ways we can live better and work smarter.Īs “perhaps the best popular economics writer in the world” ( New Statesman), Tim Harford is an expert at taking complicated ideas and untangling them for millions of readers.

That’s a mistake, Tim Harford says in The Data Detective. Today we think statistics are the enemy, numbers used to mislead and confuse us. He highlights some potential shortcomings of Big Data essentially do not blindly trust or distrust either computers/algorithms or humans, but understand the limitations and complexities of each step involved in the process.From “one of the great (greatest?) contemporary popular writers on economics” (Tyler Cowen) comes a smart, lively, and encouraging rethinking of how to use statistics. Many conversations and debates are seeming more rooted in emotion rather than logic as of late, and how easy is it to feel enraged, angered, and shocked by a recent claim, study findings, or statistic, and let then let that cloud our judgment? Rule 7: Demand Transparency when the Computer says ‘No’ to be most relevant for those of us in the data field. I found each chapter illuminating and refreshing but perhaps Rule 1: Search Your Feelings especially relevant in today’s world. Remember That Misinformation Can Be Beautiful Too Demand Transparency When the Computer Says ‘No’ĭon’t Take Statistical Bedrock for Granted

The data detective book